A tire utilizes reinforcement components such as plies, belts, and beads to control tire size and shape and to hold it on a wheel. Traditional rubber tires are assembled on a building drum by laminating strips of rubber and rubber coated reinforcement. The rubber coating on the reinforcements is solid and sticky and un-vulcanized which allows it to control distance between reinforcements and to hold reinforcements in place until the vulcanization reaction can be completed.
Conventional rubber tires have manufacturing and performance problems associated with laminating one green and un-vulcanized component on top of another. The biggest problem is air entrapped between laminates and at ends of laminates. This entrapped air can cause a manufacturing defect in the cured, vulcanized, tire called a “blow”, which is an air bubble entrapped within the cured tire. A small blow which is not caught during tire inspection can become larger during service allowing structural components to separate and generate heat from friction between the separated components. This separation and heat can cause tire failure which is sometimes catastrophic.
The liquid elastomer tires of this invention are not assembled by laminating one elastomeric strip upon another. Instead, the tires of this invention have their reinforcements—plies, belts and beads—assembled and liquid elastomer poured or injected around them. There is no entrapped air within the finished tire structure and, therefore, no blows or separations in service.